Seventeen and four
Seventeen and four , twenty-one , fr. Vingt ( et ) un , engl. Pontoon or Twenty one is an originally French card game of chance from the 18th century, where it was played at the court of Louis XV. was very popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, the famous blackjack casino game developed from this in the USA .
The French Vingtun is itself a descendant of the older Trenteun , which had to achieve 31 points; the number 31 was replaced by the number 21, and the Vingt un was created .
The English name Pontoon is probably derived from the French name Vingtun .
The game
General
Seventeen and Four is played either with a pack of 52 sheets of French cards or with a pack of 32 sheets ( Skat sheet ) of double German or French cards.
Each player plays for himself against the banker . The aim of the game is to get closer to 21 points than the banker with two or more cards without exceeding 21 points.
The counts of the cards
Count when using 52 sheets
- Ace eleven eyes (never one as is possible in blackjack ),
- King, queen and jack ten eyes each
and the number cards according to their printed value.
The best result is 21 points with two cards, a born twenty-one , so ace and picture or ace and ten. This hand often wins by a ratio of 2: 1.
If the banker has 21 points with two cards, the players must pay twice. A player who also has 21 points with two cards himself only loses in this case.
Count when using 32 sheets
- Daus or ace eleven eyes (never one),
- King four eyes,
- Upper or lady three eyes,
- Under or jack two eyes
and the number cards (10, 9, 8, 7) according to their printed value.
When playing with 32 cards, the best result is often a hand consisting of only two aces ( fire ), this then does not count 22 points, but wins twice or once, depending on the agreement.
The colors have no meaning.
Game flow
Before the start of a game, the banker places his bet, the banco , on the table in front of him, and then the punchers place the bet . The sum of the bets of the opponents must not exceed the bank amount. If a player wants to risk a bet equal to the amount currently in the bank, he says Va banque or Banco , then no other player is allowed to bet.
If all players have bet, each player receives two cards face down, but the banker only receives one, also face down.
The player to the left of the banker is the first to declare whether he wants to draw more cards or not. If he thinks he has come close enough to 21 points, he rejects further cards. Whoever reaches 22 or more points by buying ( sells , is dead ) must turn over his hand and lose immediately.
All players are now served one after the other in the same way. Finally the banker reveals his card, draws his second and, if desired, further cards.
If the banker exceeds 21 points, all remaining participants in the game win in a ratio of 1: 1; However, if the banker stands at less than 22 points, only those players win who have at least one point more than the banker.
The banker is not allowed to take profits from the bank unless he surrenders the bank - in which case, of course, he owns the entire amount in the bank.
Rule variants
In this basic rule it is not difficult to recognize the later Black Jack - although the rules of Black Jack have many differences that are advantageous for the player.
Seventeen and Four is played in many different variants that deviate from the rule described above in innumerable details.
Common variants are for example:
- The players only place their bets after receiving their first card.
- Before buying any more cards, players can increase their stakes: a player must raise at least the amount that they wagered first and can only double the current stake at most.
- Example: A player bets € 1 and receives the first two cards. He decides to buy and increases his stake by € 1; now he would like to ask for another card and increase the stake again. If he does this, he must increase the stake to at least € 3, but may increase by a maximum of € 2 to € 4.
- It can also be agreed that the stake can be increased at will, regardless of the initial stake, before purchasing another card. The maximum is in any case Banco minus the stakes of the other players involved in the current game.
- Is the bank broken, d. H. if the players have won the entire amount in the bank, the bank must be handed over. It can also be agreed that the banker must hand over the bank after a certain number of game rounds.
- Sometimes the game is played in such a way that only one player receives cards in a round . Either each player then plays alone against the bank, or the other punchers can bet on that player's hand. A player receives the cards until he loses a game, then his left neighbor receives the cards (similar to Baccarat banque ). Of course, you can also agree that hands change after each individual game.
- To make it harder to keep counting cards, it can be agreed that a player does not have to show his cards if he has lost. This can also apply to the bank's face-down cards (first card and, if applicable, card that led to death ) if the bank has lost the game in progress to all players currently playing.
- Furthermore, the rule is sometimes used that when playing with 32 hands, a hand consisting of five cards wins immediately. This rule used to be common in the casino variant of Black Jack ( Five Card Charly ), but is no longer in use today.
Related games
Apart from blackjack , the game idea of seventeen and four can be found in
Trente (et) un
Trente ( et ) un (fr. Thirty-one) is the forerunner of Vingt et un , the rules are exactly the same, only that you play on 31 instead of 21 points, a package of 52 cards is used. An ace and two tens are a born thirty-one and win twice (see Belle, River and Thirty-one ).
Note : The swimming card game is also known as the Thirty-One .
Onze et demi (e)
The French Onze et demi (s) (for eleven and a half.) Or dt. Half past eleven is played with a pack of French cards to 52 sheets. The ace counts eleven points, two to ten count two to ten points, the pieces each half a point. At the beginning each player receives a card face down. Best result is a born eleven and a half , 11½ points with two cards, i. H. an ace and a piece, in which case the player wins twice.
If a player has an ace as his first card, he can “gasp for air” ( prendre l'air ) and now has three attempts to get a picture and to achieve eleven and a half points.
If a player has a picture as his first card, he reveals his card and the other players are allowed to bet on his hand.
If the bank has an ace and a picture, the players lose twice, except for those who have a born eleven and a half, who simply lose.
Otherwise the rules of seventeen and four apply accordingly .
Sette e mezzo
The Italian Sette e mezzo (it. Seven and a half) is originally played with 40 sheets of Italian playing cards or with a pack of French cards without 8, 9 and 10. Asso counts one point, two to seven counts two to seven points, the figures ( Fante , Cavall and Re ) each count half a point.
Each player receives a card at the beginning. The best result is Sette e mezzo reale , i.e. H. 7½ points with two cards, i.e. H. a seven and a piece, in which case the player wins twice.
If the bank has a seven and a piece, the players lose twice, except for those who have seven and a half points with two cards, they simply lose.
Quinze
Quinze (fr. Fifteen): Here, 15 points are played. A package of 52 sheets is used; the cards are dealt face down; each player only receives one card at the beginning. There are no increased profits. In the event of a tie or in the event that both parties sell, the game is repeated. Since the rules are symmetrical here, neither party has an advantage.
More related games are
The idea of seventeen and four is also used in the game of dice .
literature
- Claus Grupp: Games of chance with balls, dice and cards , Falken Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1976
- Albert H. Morehead, Richard L. Frey, Geoffrey Mott-Smith: The New Complete Hoyle Revised , New York 1991
- Albert H. Morehead, Geoffrey Mott-Smith: Hoyle's Rules of Games 2nd revised edition. A Signet Book, 1983
- David Parlett : The Oxford Dictionary of Card Games , Oxford 1992
- David Parlett: The Oxford Guide to Card Games , Oxford 1990